The hunt ban is working

The distortions of the Countryside Alliance (Thousands defy hunting ban 27 December) are as obvious as ever. The Hunting Act was, they said, "not working"; it was "unenforcable" and thousands were following hunts which showed that "hunting remained". The CA's twisted logic does not bear up under even the most causal observation. If the act does not work why then is the CA trying so hard to get it repealed?

Before the Hunting Act became law the CA was predicting the countryside would collapse. It can't have it both ways - in fact, hunters have now shot themselves in the foot. They have even started to test the patience of the Association of Chief Police Officers, which is calling for new powers to police the act by having access to private land.

The police know what we in the animal welfare movement know - that the Hunting Act is a clear and enforceable law and that the hunters will not be allowed to snub their noses at the British people who made the law through their elected representatives. Some of them may think they can ignore the law but they will not succeed. Chris Gale Labour Animal Welfare Society

I'm sure that Kate Hoey will be writing to thank Tony Blair and Labour MPs for taking the cruelty out of hunting, thereby making the countryside more accessible to those who considered the actions of a minority to be on a par with cock fighting and badger baiting.

Local rural communities have always been better protected by socialism than capitalism, whose lasting legacy will always be the boom and bust of the 80s which destroyed young, rural families' hopes of getting affordable local housing; the destruction of a rural public transport network; and the destruction of more miles of hedges and natural habitats than even happened during the industrial revolution.Duncan Anderson Immingham, N Lincs